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October 12, 2006

Jimbo's Guide to Peapod Grocery Delivery Service for the Single Person

I did not receive dry ice with yesterday's late Peapod grocery delivery. In fact, they've downgraded their plastic delivery cartons to plastic-fortified cardboard. However, I'll use on of their cooler boxes for beer on Saturday...

Anyway, a number of people were astounded that I use Giant Food's Peapod grocery delivery service. I'm interested in what they are thinking, because I'm taking a marketing management course right now and consumer perception of a product or service is always interesting. Apparently a lot of people think Peapod is only for rich people with money to spare, or for old ladies who can't make it to the grocery store. I am neither, but have good reason to use the service.

I don't have a car, I am not rich, and I live about 7 blocks from the nearest decent grocery store. Whether it be Whole Foods, Giant, Safeway or La Tienda Mercado, they're all about the same distance away. I'm not against carrying groceries by hand, but that takes time. Time, like money, is an investment and an expenditure to me. I sometimes dangle my plastic grocery bags from my bike handlebars, but this looks dorky and can be unsafe. Sometimes for big shopping trips that require lots of groceries I will take a cab back to home with the groceries.

But the cost of a cab from the Safeway on 17th Street is about the same as the service charge on a typical Peapod grocery delivery. Plus I save time, and don't have to lug anything around. The deliveryman brings it right up to my fridge, and sometimes I get to gawk at a woofy deliveryman as well.

Anyhow, it's about convenience for me. I do go to Safeway and sometimes Whole Foods for things, especially for stuff like eggs, milk and bread from the former, or specialty items from the latter. But every few weeks I need to do the 'big shop' and get lots of things, especially heavy or bulky things like a jug of water or whole fryer. You have to order an amount over $50 from Peapod anyway, so it's best to save up your 'big shop' for your Peapod delivery.

When you make a Peapod order you have to think ahead - expecially if you're single. It's actually sometimes challenging to select a list of groceries that exceed the minimum $50 order. Plan your meals and order all the ingredients and fixin's ahead of time.

I recommend you get an early delivery slot - the earlier the better. I shoot for the 6-8am slot, and they are on-time over 90% of the time. I think the later slots reserved get more no-shows, due to the accumulation of delays over the course of the day. Plus your groceries haven't been in a truck all day in the DC summer heat. With the early slots I have never had food that wasn't fresh. But these slots fill up quickly, often 3 days in advance, so again, you have to plan ahead.

If you are not there when the delivery arrives, either because you're sleeping or they show up late, they leave your groceries at your door in chilled cardboard boxes.

Think about number and volume - when you can't see what you are buying ahead of time, such factors will come into play. Like clicking '1' on "bananas, green" will result in the delivery of 1 banana, not a bunch. If you chose an item that normally comes by weight, sometimes your acorn squash will be HUGE for a single person. Or your fryer chicken will arrive more the size of a turkey or small ostrich. I usually buy these things in-store after a few too many steroided-chicken deliveries. I need the really small ones or else I eat chicken forever.

And don't forget the Peapod extras: sometimes your frozen foods arrive with DRY ICE! Put the dry ice in a glass of water and wait for the fun to begin! Also, your delicate items like eggs are wrapped in bubble wrap. I have a huge supply of bubble wrap saved up now...

Anyhow, simply put, it's a convenient service for me every few weeks or so when everything in my fridge seems to be running low. An occasional trip on my bike to 17th street serves my beer and milk needs, but every once in a while Peapod really rocks. Any questions?

Posted by jimbo at October 12, 2006 2:09 PM

Comments

I have yet to order from them, but I see no reason whatsoever to not take advantage of this service. It is all about convenience, especially living in a crowded city without a car.

I used to order from kozmo.com back in the day. During the winter, it was fantastic to get a dvd, some munchie food and a fire log delivered directly to my door, although they didn't have any porn or lube. :( Anyway, I miss them.

By the way, Jimbo--you're a furry little peapod, aren't you?

Posted by: durban bud at October 12, 2006 3:50 PM

I tried Peapod for a while but I wasn't thrilled. I wasn't that disappointed either, it just seemed half-hearted.

I like Safeway's delivery service, which I used a lot when I returned from Australia. Being housebound made it a requirement, and their produce is much better. Both services are great for big, bulky things, like paper towels or detergent, where buying big saves you money, but carting it home is so exhausting.

Mostly, I've decided to use Dolly Parton's motto for grocery shopping "Little and often", except she was referring to "age-related aesthetics enhancements".

I miss Kozmo!

Posted by: copperred at October 12, 2006 5:01 PM

Jimbo - You're a veritable Peapod-ler! You make a good case for using this gigantic service. I'm ashamed that I poked fun at you. Deepest apologies. ;)

Posted by: Shawn at October 12, 2006 6:21 PM

We have something like Peapod here. It's called "Rentboy.com."

Posted by: Aaron at October 12, 2006 6:56 PM

I wanted to start using the Peapod service, but they do not offer it in my 'hood. Strange, considering that there is a Giant right across the street from me and 3 or 4 more within a few miles.
I mainly wanted to do it for convenience sake, so that I did not have to take the time to do the actual shopping and because the service at my local Giant is absolutely abysmal!
After I ran the idea of grocery deliveries by Mumi, he asked me if I thought that we were rich or something.

Posted by: Bubala at October 12, 2006 11:36 PM

I've no problems with using a service like Peapod; I think they're a nifty idea for the reasons you state (Time, convenience, etc.) and I'd use one but alas, they don't exist out here.

Posted by: Lee at October 13, 2006 12:25 AM

Mmm, bubble wrap. Why is that turning me on?

Posted by: sam at October 13, 2006 9:27 AM

I actually jst tried the Washington Green Grocer yesterday and it was awesome. Maybe I got a newbie special -but $27 got me a bunch of kale, a cantelope, an avocado, pears, apples, bananas, broccoli, portobellos, green beans, a grapefruit, and a shiny happy eggplant. You focus a lot on planning and with the Green Grocer you get what they have on The List (though you can personalize, for instanceif you have eggplant).

I'm trying to get the family to eat more veggies - but generally I leave Safeway/Giant/Whole Foods with too few veggies because of quality or price.

Anyhow - it seemed topical and I was having a moment of veggie joy.

Posted by: sophiagrrl at October 13, 2006 9:45 AM

Batteries, batteries, batteries [for when you need to jump up to $50 quickly].

I got frustrated with Peapod in Boston being continually late - showing up at 10:30 PM for a 7-9 PM window - but as you stated, it's probably because I was choosing the most popular time.

And I never though of it as a service for the rich and/or old - they don't even know how to use internets without supervision.

Posted by: keith at October 13, 2006 10:45 AM

Good for you. I don't understand what the problem is.

And, well, dry ice....I understand completely.

Posted by: Mark at October 13, 2006 11:48 AM

Thanks for sharing. Now I call that, "service with a smile". But you'd think by now, someone would come up with a food delivery service with something extra, like some shirtless hairy muscle delivery dude. We can only dream, can't we?

Posted by: Bufftuff [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 13, 2006 2:56 PM

omg i would totally take you grocery shopping.

Posted by: brent at October 13, 2006 5:04 PM

Peapod rawks. Like the Jimbo here, I don't have a car and it's convenient, efficient and affordable. I used to rent a Zipcar to do groceries but this price point can't be beat. And the web interface is not too shabby either, you can preview the nutrition labels and everything.

Posted by: ivan at October 14, 2006 2:43 AM

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